Guglielmo Marconi

(1874-1937) an Italian scientist and electrical engineer who lived for most of his life in Britain. Using the work of previous scientists he developed the practical use of radio, sending the first radio signals from England to France in 1898 and from England to America in 1901. He shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909. He was also a successful businessman, establishing the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company in London in 1899. In 1922 the company was in charge of the first broadcasts of the BBC.